Happy days, I can very carefully say I am sick cause of my boss. Very carefully indeed, just in case she is reading this. She came in yesterday reeking of the flu, and warning everybody to stay away from her. Last night my nose started running, and today I have a tummy ache and a sore throat. Actually, it's a fairly mild cold by cold standards, just enough to be distracting at work without being bad enough to stay home. As least I'll be fully innoculated when Christmas rolls around next week.

Update : Sometimes weird things happen, and I feel the strange need to record them. I'll probably come to delete this post some time down the way, but today, my eye repeatedly wandered to this rather strange series of web browser tabs that I managed to open. It's in the comments, and has no significance other than it amused me at the time. Comment NSFW.

I recently finished reading Big Shots which was an entertaining and educational look at the people who produced the booze. Fine art requires both seeing the artwork firsthand, and knowing the story behind the art and artist. Without the story, art is just another lump of metal someone thought fit to plop on the lawn. Like art, this book provided the story and gave me a depth of appreciation that you cannot develop by simply drinking the stuff. At the same time, you cannot appreciate what you are reading unless you've tasted the liquid yourself. I know the history, now I need a drinking buddy to help experience that history for ourselves. Any takers?

Wish me luck, I'm off to the Shriner Christmas party, followed by a party in NPR with my Grandma.

It started early today with Steph and her entourage arriving at our house for some early morning fun. I played with Joseph in the backyard, throwing the football around and showing off my squash-in-a-jar. Mike was fighting with Alex over space in Mikes plastic Play-Skool car. Alex hops in the drivers seat, and seeing this, Mike opens the door and forces his way until they are sitting side-by-side. It's quite funny to watch. Mike is certainly developing his selfish side. Denise tells me he is like this in the daycare at Denises gym.

The first party was at the Shrine temple. It's technically not the Temple, but a convention center the Shrine owns and rents out for fund raising. Today the hall was for internal Shrine use. They host their annual Christmas party, which is open to the public, but generally attended by Shrine members and their families. This year was a bit of a let down from years past, rather low attendance. My family, along with Steph and the kids met Toby and Rich at the hall. We enjoyed a lunch of burgers and hot dogs, and then showed off the babies. They were a big hit, no surprises there.

The party was capped by a visit from Santa. Every got in line, and the kids each sat in Santa lap and got their picture taken. I took a few extra with my own camera. The kids then were taken to a secret room where parents are not allowed and instructred to choose 2 presents from a pile. Parents are not allowed else they would have the child choosing the most expensive name-brand toys rather than the toy the child actually wanted. We know because we were in attendance a few years ago when parents were allowed and it was quite a fiasco.

We left with enough time on the clock to allow Denise and Steph to go to the mall while I stayed behind to watch Mike and Joseph. We played some Super Monkey Ball, which is always time well spent. The girls returned, Mike awoke, and my family headed to New Port Richey for party no2.

Dad along with Grandma's caregivers, Cindy and Rhonda, threw a nice little party for Grandma Sara and her friends Tony and Judi. Judi is Dad's secretary , and everybody is good friends with each other. There was some finger food, much present unwrapping and jocularity, and it was a good party. It was very personal, as everybody was giving everybody very well though out gifts. Dad got a box of pine cones from Cindy in response to a gift he brought her from Pennsylvania. Rhonda got Dad a book on Nascar history so he could out-trivia Cindy and her Nascar obsession. Everybody gave Grandma some very nice gifts to help keep her mind and hands occupied, such as a needle-point kit and other crafts.

Here Mike was on his best behavior, despite being up well beyond the cusp of his bedtime. We piled in the car around 9pm and headed home very tired and very loved.

Michael has started down a rather difficult path today. He came close to getting a serious smack more than once. I think he is warming into his 'terrible twos'.

It began innocently enough. Denise snuck out to work at the hospital, leaving us alone to share the day together. Not an unusual event. Mike even slept a little later than usual, getting up about 8am or so. This gave me an extra half hour to wake myself up with the sun as I like to do when given the chance.

Mike had a supurb breakfast, drank a cup of soy milk, and we played for a good hour. I had some christmas shopping to do, and some pictures to develop, and surprisingly, Walmart has the best photo lab in the area. More on this later. I put together my list and we headed to the store.

Mike decided after 20 minutes in the store that he had enough, and began to whine. He's never liked the shopping cart for some reason, so I took him out and carried him. That didn't help. He kept whining, getting louder by the minute. I cut the shopping short, picked up the pictures, which thankfully were ready 30 minutes ahead of schedule, and paid for the stuff. Mike was crying loudly and in full tears while I was paying. Leaving the store, a blast of cold air him us, refreshing me, but infuriating him, and he broke into a hysterical tantrum. Pissed me off someting good. I wanted to give him a reason to cry, and came close. I buckled him in and drove home. He cried the whole way home, slowing to a sob just as we pulled in the drive. I put him down for a good nap.

He awoke 2 hours later, happy as a clam (are clams happy?) and we had lunch and played a bit. Foolishly thinking his fit was over, I put him back in the car and headed back to Walmart to pick up some more pictures and finish shopping. I even figured to do my shopping with the stroller and some chicken nuggets to help keep him fat and happy. No sooner than we got in line at the photo counter did he start whining again. It followed the same pattern, full tears at the checkout, tantrum in the car. This time I needed to put ear plugs in to block out the sound, lest I drive into a tree or something. Again, I got home, put him down, and he slept quietly.

Neither time was he late for a nap, nor hungry. He might be thirsty as we've removed his bottle and replaced it with sippy cups last week. But he has wet diapers and seems to drink enough. I don't know.

He awoke a few hours later, had some dinner, but I wasn't trying for a third time. We finished off the day playing outside with his rubber ball in the grass. We were both fine the rest of the evening.

I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

Vince started this thread here, and I started commenting so much I became a post of it's own here.

I throw a whole-hearted "I Agree" about the state of news today. In my simplistic mind, news should be something that has the potential to directly affect me, my family, my neighborhood, my state, my country, or my world. You probably would make a category for special interest news (science, technology, business, cooking, etc) Each news cast, be it local or national, would cover the appropriate news items.

I now find my watching news casts spotlighting what is news and what isn't.

• Murder of 2 babies in downtown apartment, not news.
  
• Julie Roberts gives birth to twins, not news.
  
• Ken Jennings losing on Jeopardy (personally interesting, not news).
  
• New speed bumps being installed in my community, News!!!
  
• Baby seat being recalled for faulty restraint. News!!!
  
• SpaceShipOne makes secdond trip into orbit, Special Interest News.
  

Obviously my news cast would be insanely boring by contemporary standards, but it would contain actual news, not sensationalism.

It's disturbing how little news actually makes it into the nightly news reports. Even NPR, which is far beyond the reporting standards of local news and better than national news, has it's fair share of non-news. They certainly reports on murder and strife, they just make sure it is happening in such remote locations as Iraq and Sudan, and that the newscast involvs the term terrorist.

Now I'm off the watch more of my Benny Hill DVD's. This will cure any newscast related blues.

Update : I found this definition of News on Dictionary.com

News
pl.n (used with a sing. verb)

1. • 
     Information about recent events or happenings, especially as reported by newspapers, periodicals, radio, or television.
     
   • A presentation of such information, as in a newspaper or on a newscast.
2. New information of any kind: The requirement was news to him.
3. Newsworthy material: “a public figure on a scale unimaginable in America; whatever he did was news” (James Atlas).
   

This strikes me as an almost circular definition. If I ask 'What is news?' The answer turns out to be 'Whatever is reported in the news.' Not a satisfying answer.